Carson City-Crystal Area Schools voters will be asked to decide two issues Tuesday — an operating millage renewal proposal of 18 mills for five years and a $995,000 bond proposal to make improvements to school buildings, including Carson City Elementary School. — Daily News/Elisabeth Waldon

CARSON CITY — Voters will be asked two decide two proposals Tuesday for the Carson City-Crystal Area Schools district.

Daniyel McAlvey and Holly Keiffer are co-chairwomen of the bond campaign, along with Nancy Seals who is assisting in raising community awareness about Tuesday’s vote. Their motto is “Strong Schools, Strong Communities.”

An 18-mill operating millage renewal proposal is a renewal only and will not increase taxes from current rates. The millage would be spread out over five years and would generate approximately $1.8 million, which represents 22.5 percent of the district’s budget. The non-homestead millage would only be levied on second homes and businesses — not on primary homes.

If the millage isn’t renewed, the school could cut athletics, food service and transportation and it still wouldn’t be enough to fix the budget, said Seals.

Voters also will be asked to decide whether to approve a 2-mill bond proposal which would generate $995,000 over two years for building and site improvements (the bond amount was previously incorrectly published in a legal notice by the Montcalm County Clerk’s Office in The Daily News).

Bond improvements would include steam to hot water conversion and boiler replacement at the high school/middle school (which will result in an estimated $30,000 in energy savings) and roof, entrance and restroom improvements at Carson City Elementary School.

“It’s not any Taj Mahal thing,” said Seals, who has a senior about to graduate from CC-C High School. “It’s the same things you would do for your own house.”

Keiffer has three children who attend CC-C schools. She is concerned about the safety and future of the schools and the community.

“I care about where my children are those five days a week,” she said. “I believe it is important that our children are educated in a safe, comfortable learning environment.”

McAlvey has two children attending CC-C schools with a third child set to begin this fall.

“Our school system is in need of these mills for our kids to continue to have a safe educational experience,” McAlvey said. “The repairs that need to be completed are essential, basic maintenance to both sites.

“There is a connection with our school system and our surrounding communities,” she added. “Our communities and businesses will not grow if our school system is unable to provide a safe, educational experience. Families will look elsewhere. I believe that we have extremely talented and passionate school professionals. We need to provide our educators and our children with the essentials that these bonds will provide.”

Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday in Bloomer, Bushnell, Crystal, Ferris, North Plains and New Haven townships and Carson City.

Elisabeth Waldon is news editor of The Daily News, where she began as an intern in 2001. Her beat includes courts/cops/crime and Montcalm County government. She is also editor of The Carson City Gazette. She loves investigative reporting, telling small-town stories, taking road trips, frequenting music halls, experimenting with photography and being a wife and mother in the "Panhandle" of Montcalm County.

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“The non-homestead millage would only be levied on second homes and businesses — not on primary homes.”
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No Kidding – what do you thing a “Non-Homestead” property might be…a THIRD house?

Many residents in Crystal are non-homestead, because these are their second or summer homes – Their NON-Primary homes-which like mine pay several hundred dollars monthly in property taxes just to keep a home that doesnt even include garbage pickup!

I am all for helping the kids, and I’d volunteer my time to hel before I’d vote for a tax increase

too much money and time spent on sports and not enough on Academics. Graduates can barely pass college entrance exams and employers have to teach before they can train. Tell the kids to pull their pants up, leave the cell phone home, and crack the books.

@ Mr. Chase…”too much money and time spent on sports and not enough on Academics.” If you go to the Central Office at the school district, you can ask them for a breakdown of the school expenses, and in particular, look at the sports part of the general budget. The school district only pays for coaching and transportation. The rest of the funding comes from the athletic department itself. In the high school, if you talk to the Principal, they are offering several Advanced Placement classes, qualified students can dual enroll, and others are taking classes through Montcalm Career Center, learning several different servicable trades.

Moreover, the teachers, in my opinion, are doing a good job, but support needs to come from the parents…tell the parents to become more strict with their children. The school can only do so much when a parent doesn’t back the school’s policies.

Just wondering where you are getting your facts about “Graduates can barely pass college entrance exams?” Please enlighten me how you know this information.

Until Carson goes green they will always need money. Look at Greenville High, they went solar and it paid for itself. Kids need education not more sports expenses. I know of a few kids that graduated in the past couple of years, and the quality of their education was poor. Spelling that of a 12 yr old and ask them to read a book and they go off the deep end. get rid of the cell phones, texting in classes and start educating them